Partizan Belgrade thrown out of Uefa Cup

Partizan Belgrade have been thrown out of the UEFA Cup after crowd trouble during their first qualifying round match at Bosnian rivals Zrinjski Mostar earlier this month.

“The UEFA Disciplinary Committee decided at Thursday’s meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, to expel Partizan from European competition for a year and fine the club 50,000 Swiss francs,” Partizan said on their web site.

“The decision was based on the fact that Partizan had been punished in 25 of their 36 European matches in the last five years while UEFA made it clear recently that it would take a tougher stance on violence.”

Partizan’s punishment was later confirmed in a statement on UEFA’s website (www.uefa.com) which said that the club could appeal against the verdict within three days.

Partizan have twice been made to play their home matches at a neutral venue in European competition, one of them against Celtic in Mostar in the former Cup Winners’ Cup.

Last week’s trouble came shortly afert half-time when play was held up for 10 minutes after rival fans clashed with riot police and security stewards while pelting each other with missiles.

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